Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by Gilgemesh:

Drank this one in my new Sam Adams glass, thanks Med. The beer is an amber tinged with a bit of red. A slight haze is noticeable, but not unapealingly so. The nose is of caramel with a slightly alcoholic finish. There is also a nice undercurrent of spicyness. The flavor is big and sweet balanced nicely by the crisp alcohol finish. Even as sweet as it is, the alcohol cleans the palate right off. The mouthfeel is full, bigger than I expected. Overall there are some nice aspects of whit in there, but this is more imperial than whit. Quite nice though.

More User Reviews:

Pours a hazy orange honey color with a small frothy white head. Excellent head retention and lacing. Flavor is overpowering spice, very sweet and honey like. It's tough to get past the over use of spices and honey but its definitely says "hey I'm here" to your tongue. The malts are a bit over-powering too. The alcohol is all there but I found myself not wanting to finish this.

This might be the most visually attractive beer I've ever had. Served in a pilsner glass, the beer was a hazy red/orange color with a thick white head and plenty of lacing. Spicy orange aroma, like those Christmas ornaments stuck with cloves. Mostly citrus (orange) taste, faint spice, and malt. But way too sweet! Cloyingly sweet. One and done.

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a tulip glass.

Appearance: From the pour I got a bright orange body with lighter yellow hues at the sides of the glass. (This is much darker than a standard White or Witt beer.) On top was tall creamy off white head with fairly good staying power for a 10+% beer. It slowly fades to a wisp thin layer that makes some slick lacing.

Smell: The aroma has notes of spicy yeast, coriander, and orange peel back up by a mild boozy maltiness.

Taste/Palate: It has a warm and sweet overall character. There is a solid bready and wheat malt base with hints of spice, yeast, and bitter orange peel. Hops are light and blend into the background and the big abv adds warmth. The palate is full, smooth and slightly slick.

Notes: It’s much heavier and less drinkable than a normal Witt beer. This is interesting but way out of style.

12 ounce bottle, w/o freshness info to be had. 10.3% advertised on the label. Pours cloudy, darker peach amber, off white head, tiny bubble thin head, then film and leaves nice fine and extensive lacing. The nose on this one is of lime, alcohol, sweet malts. I got notes of gin, lime, fruity/yeasty goodness. Unfortunately this one is a bit on the "hot" side, taking away from the taste enjoyability and ultimately drinkability as well. This one needs some work

The beer pours an orange color with a decent-sized white head. The aroma is about what I expected. I get a lot of coriander, with a little bit of orange peel to balance things out. Smells like a regular witbier, only more intense. The flavor is similar. The predominant flavor is the coriander, but there is some syrupy, sweet orange marmalade notes in there as well. There is also a little bit of detectable alcohol. Easy to drink. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. I am not a huge fan of Imperial Whites, but this one was pretty good. It has a nice balance of the coriander and orange, which is what I look for in a witbier - imperial or otherwise.

A-pours cloudy reddish brown with lots of yeast particulates and a generous white pillowy headS-Sweet malt aroma and heavy on orange scentT-Heavy on wheat and some alcohol, but fairly well hidden for this 10%+ beerM-Syrupy-fairly cloying but cleans up quickly with a little alcohol bite.D-Not bad given the strengthO-Ok, but for an amped up white, a beer like Hoegarden Cru tastes truly like a concentrated version of Hoegarden. This is a completely different beer-if it wasn't for the orange aroma I would not relate it to a witbier. The oily syrupy mouthfeel of this beer is a little offputting for me, but this is a decent beer that I wouldn't mind having again. Wonder how it will age.

Very nice deep dark amber with no head, slight lacing. Aroma is quite boozy for being over 10% abv. Quite spicy and slightly syrupy but not as much as 120min IPA. Pretty solid big beer from Sam Adams. It is really pretty good.

Been sitting on this one for a while now, figured that Memorial day is as good a day as any to review. Besides whats better then a white beer on a hot day.

Poured from a standard 12 oz bottle in a shaker glass. Firm pour evokes a quarter inch of fuzzy white head that manages to stick around for some time. Thick and viscous lace. Color is a deep murky orange, that is semi-transluecent at the edges.

Palate- Wow not the light summer white that was expecting. Heavy and brooding, this is a true imp white. Over ripe orange, orange zest dominate the flavor profile. Citrus tang really jumps up and grabs the palate. Alcohol really comes through. Finishes long, again heavy on the orange citrus notes.

Mouthfeel- soapy, syrupy, and well carbonated

Drinkability- Potent, and a bit heavy for my liking especially on a summer day.

Samuel Adams' Imperial Series beers are made to be big, so it comes as no surprise that even the aroma on their Imperial White is exaggerated. Huge fruit aromas are present, reminiscent of oranges, berries, and apricots, surrounded by the spicy scent of coriander and lightly toasted grains.

On the tongue, the explosion of fruity flavors was so immediate and intense that it caught me quite off-guard: massive apricot and orange flavors dominate, far closer in their strength to a liqueur than a beer. Even the coriander spice is large, and between that and the grapefruit-bitter hops, my soft palate was left lightly tingling. Malty sugars make up the rest of the mix, bringing sugary alcohols and toasted grain notes.

Overall, this beer definitely pushes the boundaries of what it means to be a Witbier, as it contains all of the flavors regular fans of the style expect, but pushed to an almost inconceivable extreme. This beer is the flipside of nuanced. No doubt this will have a polarizing effect, some thinking the result fantastic and others finding it too powerful. Personally, I think it's superb.